The Refuge
by Emeraldbuttercup
Summary: When Jack visits Crutchie in the Refuge. Missing scene referenced during Newsies by Jack Kelly.


**Missing scene referenced by Jack Kelly: when he went to visit Crutchie in the Refuge.**

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Jack crawled through the second-story window, falling to the grimy floor quietly. He stood stiffly, his muscles aching in protest from his climb. He looked around the room warily, his expression twisting into a grimace.

He had promised himself he'd never return here. He'd fight and fight again until his dying breath to avoid being trapped again in this hellhole.

Jack trembled as he took a cautious step forward. He peered through the dim light. It looked the same as he remembered it- the same as it looked in his nightmares. The floor was coated in dirt and rat droppings, the sickly smell of urine and disease overwhelming him. In the corners, mold crept up the walls. Plaster rotted from the ceiling, exposing the weakened wooden beams underneath. Iron bunk beds huddled together with barely enough room to walk between them. Jack tried to quell the frantic pounding of his heart. He exhaled shakily, desperate to override the panic threatening to overwhelm him. The entire room seemed to press into him, suffocating him...

Jack shook his head violently, his jaw clenching. Grabbing onto an iron beam of one of the bunk beds, Jack hoisted himself up. The beam creaked under his weight as Jack stood on the bottom bunk, peering up at the top. Nothing but a threadbare blanket and the flash of something scuttling back into the recesses of the torn mattress. Jack shivered in disgust, turning away and looking around the room from his vantage point.

There, across the room. There was a form huddled on the top bunk of a bed against the opposite wall. Jack jumped off the bed and quickly scrambled over. He cautiously scaled the bunk bed, clutching the railing and glancing down at the figure.

Even in the dark, Jack recognized that mop of ashen blonde hair. The rest of the figure was curled tightly underneath a tattered sheet. The figure's face was buried in his arms. A lump formed in Jack's throat- his young friend looked so small here, like this. Unsure of how best to wake him, Jack tentatively touched the figure's thin shoulder.

"Don't touch me." The figure growled weakly, flinching away from his touch.

"Crutchie?"

"J-Jack?" Crutchie whipped around, his slight face pale in the dim light. His eyes blinked up disbelievingly at Jack. "What... but how-"

"I couldn't very well leave you behind, now could I?" Jack said with a soft smile.

"But Jack, ya can't be here! They'll find ya!" Crutchie muttered urgently, reaching out and gripping Jack's forearm.

"Sssh, hey, hey!" Jack said, his brow furrowing as Crutchie struggled in vain to sit up. "No worries, punk. Them guards aren't going to find me. Everyone else is out there cleaning for Mr. Snyder. They ain't gonna be back for a while."

"Oh." Crutchie said quietly. "So... does this mean ya got my letter?"

"Got it right here." Jack said, trying to keep his tone light. He patted his pant's pocket. "Gave the boys your message.

"Yeah." Crutchie whispered, a small grin spreading on his face. "And they's all right then?"

"Race's got a matching pair of black eyes, but the rest of us all got patched up okay."

"I saw them Delancies jump him." Crutchie said eagerly. "Boy, Jack ya should've seen! Race fought back like one of those crazy jungle cats! Fists swinging, feet kicking- he sent them two flyin'!"

"Yeah? What a sight." Jack said. There was silence.

"W-Where were you, Jack?" Crutchie mumbled, his eyes shining up at Jack. "I lost sight of you afta the constables came howling in. I- I was looking for you, I tried finding you, but everyone was leaving- "

Suddenly Jack couldn't stand the look on Crutchie's face. It was so hopeful, so trusting-

"I ran." Jack choked. "I ran... and I didn't... I couldn't..."

"Oh." Crutchie said, his face falling slightly. Jack squeezed his eyes shut, trying to drown out the memories of the screaming from that day. Jack felt a hand rest on his own. "It's okay, you know." Crutchie said, a lopsided smile appearing on his thin face. "You would have helped me if you could. But you were trying to save all of us, and that's a lotta ask out of one person. Even if dat one person is Captain Jack." Jack roughly wiped his eyes.

"When didja get so wise, eh?" Jack sniffed.

"I've always been wise, ya chowderhead." Crutchie huffed, but his eyes shined happily.

"We'll get ya outta here soon, Crutchie." Jack said, his hands clenching into fists. "All the boys are worried about you. Davey said he saw you get beat real good."

"Mr. Snyder turned my own crutch against me." Crutchie said, his smile now somewhat strained. "Would ya believe it?"

"Where'd he hit ya?" Jack asked, his gaze roving Crutchie with a frown. An unidentifiable expression clouded Crutchie's face for a split moment.

"Don't worry about it." He said gruffly, tugging at the corners of the sheet.

"Course I'm gonna worry, Crutch." Jack said. "You being my little brother and all, right?"

Crutchie stayed quiet, looking away from Jack.

"That's how you signed your letter ta me." Jack said, leaning closer to the small boy. "Your brother, Crutchie. And a family gots ta stick together. They don't hide nothing."

"I ain't hiding nothing." Crutchie muttered.

"Then where'd Snyder hit ya?" Crutchie visibly swallowed.

"Mostly he battered me 'round the ribs. But Delancey dragged me away by my bad leg. It- it ain't looking too good, Jack." Crutchie's lip trembled. "I- I can't move."

"Let me see it." Jack said, his heart thrumming in his skull.

"Please Jack, don't-" But Jack was already gently moving the sheet aside. Crutchie laid there helplessly, watching as Jack's expression slowly morphed into horror.

"Delancey did this to you?"

Crutchie couldn't breathe.

"Yeah."

"That bastard. I'll kill him. I'll kill him with my bare hands." Jack was quivering, his strong arms shaking as his hands hovered over his best friend's mangled leg. The mattress was soaked dark with blood. The wound itself was still oozing, the distorted edges of the wound caked in dirt. The sight was overwhelming. It was too much, so much carnage-

"Don't look at it for too long." Crutchie said, mercifully pulling the sheet back over his maimed leg. "It'll make you sick. I've already thrown up looking at it today, and this place smells rotten enough as is."

"They've gone too far." Jack said hollowly, climbing onto Crutchie's bed and kneeling at the end next to Crutchie's leg. "What kind of monster would do this to a kid?"

"Hey, I ain't no kid!"

"Yeah, you are." Jack took a shuddering gulp. "We're all just kids. God, Crutchie, I'm so sorry." Jack bowed his head, wrapping his arms around himself. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. I wanted to fight, right next to you and the guys." Crutchie offered Jack a worried smile. "I wouldn't have traded it for the world."

"What if you get sick here?" Jack asked. "If you get infected? There ain't no doctors here."

"There ain't no doctors anywhere." Crutchie chuckled. "None that are crazy enough ta try treating a sick orphaned cripple."

"We've got to get you out of here." Jack muttered wildly, his hair falling into his face. "What if your polio comes back? I wouldn't forgive myself, I'd hate myself, I'd-"

"Jack, stop it all ready." Crutchie said shakily. A tremor racked his thin frame. "I'm scared too, even if I ain't saying it. I'm terrified." A silvery tear ran down his face. "What if I don't ever leave this bed again?"

"I won't let it happen, Crutch." Jack growled. "No way, no how. I'll never let you down again. Promise."

"Don't make promises ya can't keep, Jack."

"I can keep it, and I will-" There was a dull echoing from outside the room. Both boys froze.

"They're coming back." Crutchie hissed frantically. "Ya gotta run before they see ya!" Jack scrambled down.

"-I'll get them to let you outta here, I swear-"

"-go!-"

"-keep pressure on your leg, try wrapping it if you can find the extra material-"

"-get gone, Kelly!-"

"You'll see me again, Crutchie." Jack looked back from the windowsill at Crutchie's pale face. "That's a promise."

Crutchie cracked a lopsided grin.

"Aye aye, captain."

And Jack was gone.

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